Name that safe

[SouthCali]

opinions vary, widely, when it comes to personal taste and related opinions of gun safe's reliability, protection, looks, effectiveness, and overall worthiness.

Not all safes are alike, that is for sure...

So what are your opinions as to the safe you would MOST like to have, do have, or would recommend to someone....

TouchPad, standard Dial, Hinge outside/inside, etc.
:D

[Shane Tuttle]

AMSEC BF series safe. All of the needed/wanted information is in the link. If I ever could afford to have a safe at around $4000 budgeted, it would undoubtedly be one of these.


http://zykansafe.com/amsecgunsafes.html

[TXGunNut]

I don't think a serious thief would have a hard time getting into my safe. Most burglars are opportunists and would have better results hauling it offsite to defeat and short of a hardened room I can't stop them. Fire is another hazard I've chosen not to protect against. Nothing terribly valuable in my collection, few I can't replace.
Before you buy a safe, choose the hazard you wish to avoid. I'd rather have a large safe that fills my needs than a smaller, more expensive one that offers more protection than I feel I need. You're buying insurance, not a guarantee.

[Lurch37]

AMSEC BF series safe.

Thats what I have. Both of them have the standard dial, and both have hinges inside.

[SouthCali]

I have Canons. Biggie T-54 series (tho i have sadly forgotten the combos, Obama). The Ivory, looks better than most of the furniture in my house, then again thats my subjective opinion :D

Id recommend it to anyone, if within their budget. Or any of the smaller series (T-36).

I dont however, have it bolted to the ground, DO ANY OF YOU?
http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-14628535264555_2101_8241309
Like this but in Ivory color.


I checked the link out...looks great, only thing i dont like is any outside hinges.

cheers:D

[MOREAMMO]

I am very happy with my Fort Knox. Excellent fire rating. When I bought it delivery to my basement was included, that was the deal maker for me. I was wondering how to get a 1400 pound safe in the basement. Not bolted to the floor, still debating that yet. For me was a toss-up between AMSEC, Browning, and the Fort Knox. I love opening the safe and it lights up with full lighting! It's like a moth to a light, I can't resist! I am very happy with it.

[Spartan23]

Gun safes are too small !

Can't you just put an armored door to a room without windows? It qualifies like a safe under the US Law?

Otherwise, i will take four like this one:
http://www.hephestus.gr/pi/UNTITLED_3.jpg

Or one like this:
http://www.e-artemis.gr/leonhellas/ph/dragone.jpg

And because our "Law" is weird, i have to spent even more money to buy an separate Ammo Safe...:mad:

(From 3 guns if i remember correctly, its illegal here not to have a gun safe.)

[SouthCali]

Spartan,

A separate ammo safe??

[JT-AR-MG42]

I have four Browning Pro-Steel that are all dial, no key lock and set to the same combination. That combo. is not written down anywhere in the house. I do know of an aquaintance that had his number written down behind a picture on the wall. They found it.

Several of my friends have the number-no name in their safes for emergencies.

Protection? I know that when I come home, if the safes are empty, I do not have to go checking the local pawn shops. I think the stats show that most burglaries are commited by 18-25 yr. olds looking for something to sell for drugs. My safes protect me from that.

In fact, I have a coffee can 2/3 full of change sitting beside two of them. My theory ( luckily untested so far ) is to make the thief happy. Yeah, he can't get into the safes, but here is cash money right in front of him and it takes two hands to carry out. The added bonus? is that it is a good way to know if someone has been in.

The reality is that if your collection has enough value to attract pros, you will probably be dealing with them holding a weapon on you or a loved one and forcing you to help load them into their rig.

For the past 25 years, I have ALWAYS loaded and unloaded guns in my garage. I am not selling guns in the neighborhood, so I see no reason to advertise them.

Some would call this paranoid, I call it common sense. To each his own.

JT

[SouthCali]

The reality is that if your collection has enough value to attract pros, you will probably be dealing with them holding a weapon on you or a loved one and forcing you to help load them into their rig.

I have also, long said this. In which case a safe will do no good, just make sure you get the combo right within the 3 tries or your gunman might be a little irritated at waiting another hour to try again lol (in my case anyways):D

[MatthewBerman]

I have a cannon safe. with the electronic key pad. Sometimes it lets me in and sometimes it doesn't. I thought about getting a different combo switch for it. I just dont know whats all involved in changing it. I dont want to need to get into it and cant. Other than the lock it works great for me. And mines not bolted down either,But then again I had to take the door frame off the closet to get in it. :)

[SouthCali]

I have a cannon safe. with the electronic key pad. Sometimes it lets me in and sometimes it doesn't. I thought about getting a different combo switch for it. I just dont know whats all involved in changing it. I dont want to need to get into it and cant. Other than the lock it works great for me. And mines not bolted down either,But then again I had to take the door frame off the closet to get in it.

Which model do you have? color?

I know what you are talking about with the not letting you in thing. It happened to me, but i have discovered it was ME making the problem. Put your combo in SLOW. I used to punch it in as fast as my finger would allow, and every so often it wouldn't open on the FIRST TRY. Ive since put it in slow (not ultra slow just not nascar fingers) and its perfection every time!:D

[retiredcoasty]

Right now a have a cheaper ‘Stack On’ safe. I know a lot of folks say it can easily be opened but I highly doubt to. I have it bolted to the 2X4’s in my closet. Being in the closet as it is, there is no way possible to get enough force on the safe’s door to pop them open. It is tucked in there awfully tight you just can’t get any torque on the doors.

I plan to buy a new, better and larger safe soon. But I am not looking forward to getting that sucker out of that closet!

[KChen986]

a1abdj is the forum expert on safes. I'm sure he'll chime in shortly.

Here's what I look for in a safe:

1.) External hinges WITH Bolts on the hinge side of the door: Allow you to remove the door and open the door 180 degrees for good access. I found a nicely priced Homeland Security Safe but they had external hinges with Bolts only on the opening side. If a thief had the werewithal to cut off the hinges the door would probably come right off.

2.) Bolts near the edges/corners. Helps counter prying. One of the above pictured safes with the bolts in the middle of the door looks like it'll be susceptible to a pry-attack.

3.) Recommended at least 10 gauge steel walls. Most safes can be hacked open from the side with a fireaxe. A 10 guage steel wall will slow them down some. A1a showed us a pic of a safe which had its side ripped open (and some valuables were lost.)

4.) Non-fireboard fire-proofing. Use of drywall as insulation seems a little silly. I would want something like concrete, fiberglass or whatnot to protect my firearms against fires.

5.) Although the safe I'm receiving has an electronic lock, it's been reported that dial locks are much more reliable. I'd stick with a good dial lock if I had the budget.

6.) Recommended >750lbs. That way thiefs can't haul off the safe.

7.) Finally, when you shop for a safe, look on the door for a UL Residential Security Container rating. Basically means that the safes will withstand a tool attack for 5 minutes (IIRC). A lot of the lower priced safes simply don't have that.

Look around on youtube, thehighroad.org and ar15.com . A lot of informative stuff on safes there.

Keep in mind, these are only things *I* look for. Other opinions may differ.

As mentioned before Amsec BF series safes are great. Sturdy Safes are also well recommended.

[gearchecker]

I have a small pistol safe in the house with an adequate supply of loaded handguns and emergency ammo.
I currently have a friends 24" gunsafe in my living room till she can pick it up and move it to her new home. Hopefully within the next 2 or 3 weeks.
I have a 36" 1400 Lb. Browning safe with an old fashioned dial that's kept off site for the valuable rifles, and a small gun cabinet with my everyday rifles in it. The keys to the gun cabinet is strategically located as well.
Everything is bolted down with a minimum of 4-4" lagbolts thru the wallstuds, the big safe bolted down with even more.

Good luck in protecting your gear. Any method of security is better than none at all.

[Big Caliber]

I bought my safe from Sun Welding at the Ventura gun show last year. They are in Simi Valley and have a very good selection of safes from "starter" to elegant. They are CA gov't approved and made in USA.

[MatthewBerman]

South cali - Not sure what model it is. It was handed down to me from my father. Its 60x30x20 and its maroon. I try the combo slooow and not to slow and fast, and not so fast. sometimes I have to have the wife open it. :D

[dreamweaver]

liberty makes a line called "centurion" that is the same as their more expensive safes except the outside finish and 15 minutes less fire rating. I have 2 of them and have been very happy with the value. both of those have dial locks, but i have a 3 foot by 2 foot safe in the closet that has a digital key pad that is much faster to get into.
If i had kids in the house I'd get one of those night stand digitals, but, i don't, so the gun sits in easy reach.
off topic, but those gun magnets being sold now work great for holding a 12 ga to the back of the headboard.

[SouthCali]

i saw on a different thread a guy had a gun vault.. You put your finger onto the scanner and it reads your print and spring opens the little safe.... Would be good if kids were a worry (or an angry girlfriend/wife):D

[Adirondack]

My collection has grown far faster than I would have expected it to; I guess the gun safe I bought last year made me more bold about my gun purchasing habits.

I do think I have outgrown my gun safe both in storage volume and security level but I do think it's a great safe none the less. When I bought my gun 'safe', my criteria for choosing one came down to: security, fire protection, weight and value (weight only because I will be moving in a year or two so I wanted as much of the weight to be steel rather than gypsum).

What I found and would recommend to anyone who asked me is Sturdy Safe. No their safes aren't UL listed like some others but they are a small company and I don't blame them for not wanting to waste the 60K or so on tests for each model in their line up and besides if you look at the test they do on their own safes (a couple are attached below) then you might not think the UL listing is so important ... I don't.

Here's what I wanted and found from their safes - heavy gauge steel: their standard is 7ga on the body 5/16" on the door, commercial grade lock: they use Sargent And Greenleaf Premium Grade Group II Combination and lightweight fire protection: they use 2300 Degree Ceramic wool which is 'the good stuff' and as an engineer with a lot of furnace experience I think I'm qualified to say. They offer more from a security standpoint then was available when I ordered one last year so ordering now I'd add the additional 7ga plates on the sides and the stainless 'torch' resistant plate over the lock box.

Of course, it's always impresses me to see some good video:

10,000 LBS Fork Truck Tension Test on Safe Door (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9FslzOGzqw)

Prybar test on door with 2 of 4 deadbolts cut, proof of strength of supported deadbolts (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oOqDHedivQ)

Total house burn down, the aluminum safe handle and dial have melted away (Al melts at around 1250 F), papers in the safe show no noticeable effects from the heat (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CboBAf597uU)

[JohnH1963]

Safes are not for security, but for privacy. Most safes can be broken into by 1-2 men with a long pry bar. Look at this video. The safe that is broken into looks heavy and secure with several locking bolts but is broken into in less then 2 minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBhOjWHbD6M

There are only a few good safes out there. The ones which will keep your stuff really safe weigh several thousand pounds and cost just as much.

The best place to keep your firearms is the bank...a safe deposit box. My friend in Alaska keeps his pistol there when he goes on trips outside of the state. Its only 20 bucks a year at his bank.

A professional house burglar is very fast. They turn everything in your house upside down and know where to look so hiding your pistol away is not an option.

So if you ask me, keep it in the bank ...

[SouthCali]

Sure if youve got a pistol or two.

But what about the rest of your arsenal?:D

[Billy Sparks]

My problem with that video is for it to work is that they must be able to flip the safe on its back. My safe is positioned in such a way that you cannot do that. The long and short of it is, if the person has enough time and tools they can get into your safe.

[cannonfire]

A friend of a friend is a gun collector/hoarder (he has to buy at least 2 of the same gun when he buys a new one, and never shoots any of them. Out of the hundreds of guns he has, he has maybe only shot 3 of them. He has so many guns that he puts them in china cabinets, he has about 5-6 safes as well. A waste in my opinion.) was telling me how he is about to buy another safe. It got me thinking, some how he has the money for this "obsession" why not just convert the entire room into a walk-in safe? All his weapons would be in a safe and he would save money in the long run from buying multiple safes. I've never heard of anyone having one, or what the price goes for, but a quick search on the net shows that there are companies that make custom walk-in safes.

Then I was watching the news about the tornadoes in the Mid-West and saw that a bunch of people at a truck stop hid in a walk-in refrigerator as a tornado destroyed the truck stop. There I start thinking, well instead of a walk-in safe? Why not a gutted walk-in refrigerator? Put a secure security and locking system in there, and you have tons of protection for you weapons. Sure it's not the same as a safe, but reading a lot of these posts, it seems that people are looking for a quick line of protection and not an "un-break-in-able proof" safe.

I know that these are a ton of money to have installed and by no way is it practical for a person with only a few weapons/valuables, but I think that if someone is buying multiple 2-3 thousand dollar safes, this is something to look into. Any one with experience or criticism (I prefer praise :p) with either of these ideas?

[SouthCali]

cannon,

i think that guy that used to be a singer and avid hunter and firearms man has something similar.

I have LONG thought about and dreamed about converting a room into a walk in SAFE! aka a vault!

I imagine it such as every gun would be able to be pulled right off the wall hooks/stands.

If i had been the person that just won $266 million, (from CA too) that is something id invest in:D

[JStetson]

Go for Amsec or Browning. You won't be disappointed.

[Mike Irwin]

I just dropped a Ft. Knox in my basement last night.

It's a Ranger, 31", which the company discontinued last year. The regional dealer (guy I've known for 15 years) bought 50 from the company gave me a really good deal on it.

It's about 3" shorter in height than the Maverick, but that actually worked to my advantage in getting it into my basement. It was VERY tight, and they worked hard to get it in.

[CPTMurdoc30]

Hands down the best gun safes on the market today are Graffunder. Graffunder are also the most costly. But if you got priceless firearms and other valuables this is the safe I would go with.

http://www.graffundersafes.com/

a 48 gun safe that weighs in at 5400# I doubt anyone is packin that baby off once you get it loaded with 30 or so guns.

I have a Timber Ridge (Gander Mt safe made by liberty). Is it the best safe no not even close. It does what I need it to do protect my firearms from kids and fire. If someone wants to get into a safe they are going to get into it no matter what you do.

If I was going to upgrade I would go with like many here amsec or Cannon. I knew a couple of guys that worked at Cannon safe and they are great people to deal with.

I have thought about taking a sealand container and burying it. I would first dig the hole then lay down a 3' thick slab of concrete set the container in place and secure it to the pad. Then I would pour 2' thick reinforced walls and roof over that container I would modify the front into a large vault door. Have the inside finished off with benches and racks for storing all my guns. That would be if I ever won the lotto 3 or 4 times. I would also store some food and other needed supplies just in case of the zombies. then attach it to the house in the basement behind a false wall.

[Adirondack]

CPTMurdoc30 Wrote: "Hands down the best gun safes on the market today are Graffunder. Graffunder are also the most costly. But if you got priceless firearms and other valuables this is the safe I would go with."

Pretty impressive specs on their safes for sure. I'd hate to ask how much one of those costs but I'm thinking I should have a Graffunder or a Amsec HS series safe at this point. I guess where I've come to now is at what point do you stop thinking gun safe and start thinking gun vault instead?

[a1abdj]

Graffunder builds a very nice gun safe. Their safes will go all the way up to a TL-30 type of construction (F Rate), although they do not have an actual UL rating.

AMSEC offers UL listed TL-15 and TL-30 composite gun safes.

Although I don't advertise them much, we also sell custom gun safes up to a TL-30X6 rating.

Actual vaults are best installed during construction. It can be much more complicated to install one in an existing structure. You will also want to protect against the total value of the contents. People tend to build entire rooms then put a light weight door manufacturered by a gun safe company on them. This pretty much defeats the purpose.

[Adirondack]

a1abdj, I'll give you a call on the vault door when I'm closer to building. I'm using 6" ICFs for my basement so that's what the vault walls will be built with too. If the entry way is wide enough, I'd like to put a gun safe inside the vault as well so my family can use the vault but the guns are still secured from my young son.

[wingspar]

If you are familiar with a program that used to be on the Discovery Channel called “It Takes A Thief”, where they would break into some ones house, after getting the homeowners approval, and setting video cameras up in every room to record the break in. Professional thieves would case the house for a few days, then break in. In one video, they ripped a gun safe out of a wall, and threw the entire safe in their pickup. Once it was all over with, the people were given their stuff back, plus thousands of dollars of security equipment for their home. Interesting program. The guy that did the break-ins was big on guns and cars, and usually managed both a lot. It got me to thinking.

My guns are scattered around. Riffles in closet, and handguns in various places. No set place to store them, so I have thought about a gun safe. I’m looking at this safe (http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat602007-cat20799&id=0069249230032a&navCount=2&podId=0069249&parentId=cat20799&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=QL&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20799&hasJS=true) which I can get locally for about $250 less than the one at Cabelas. Looks like a nice safe. Anyone have any experience with this Sentry 10-Gun Digital Gun Safe? I will bolt it to the floor and wall in a corner of my closet that is only about 5 inches wider than the safe is. Not much room for a thief to work in.

[S0uthCali]

Wng,

I know the episode that youre talking about. That was a run of the mil safe and they got it open nicely.

My safes are positioned with back/side against walls so only way for them to get it on it's back with door facing up to be jammed open, wold be to drop it forward then flip it. The Cannon t-54's are big, heavy, heavy safes. i would go as far as to say it would be impossible for anything less than a nice handful of guys.. funny thing is, i didnt even plan it like that, just te way things worked out when i told the delivery guy "uhhh well put how about we put them over there"

[a1abdj]

Just to remind everybody that gun safes (all safes with a UL RSC rating for that matter) are not tested against sledge hammers, pry bars, or power tools. They are only rated for a period of 5 minutes against a hand held hammer and a large screwdriver/small pry bar.

The minimum UL rating for burglary is 15 minutes, and a safe would need to have the equivalent of a 1" solid A36 steel plate wall and a 1.5" solid A36 steel plate door.

Let's not kid ourselves. Gun safes will protect against average smash and grab theives. They will not protect against anybody with tools that wants to get in. They will also not protect for long periods of time, you're looking only at a matter of minutes.

Don't believe the marketing hype. There is nothing about making a 1/10" (12 gauge), 1/8" (10 gauge), or even a 3/16" steel gun safe more secure than the steel itself just because it's made into a box that resembles a safe.